Re: Reprieve From Ignominy

: : : : : : : : : Has anyne heard the term "balls out"? It is
often used in business settings when a company
: : : : : : : : : decides to change to a new software system. To
go "balls out" means to install it and use it without
: : : : : : : : : worrying about the way we've always done it.

: : : : : : : : : Does the term come from the way the pendulum
swings all the way out?

: : : : : : : : Um. Well. Ahhh. No.

: : : : : : : To go "balls out" means to throw caution to the winds
and charge full-steam ahead. Without wanting to be too blunt as
to the phrase's provenance, it's something which we males could
do both figuratively *and* literally (though I can't think of any
printable occasions when I'd do the latter), whereas the fairer
sex is limited to doing it figuratively.

: : : : : : I believe that this expression originated with the
early steam engines whose governors were a pair of spinning balls,
which described a larger and larger circle as the demanded speed,
and hence their rotational speed, increased to control the steam
valve and hence the flow of steam from boiler to pistons.

: : : : : Ahahahahah. I can actually call to mind the device you
describe - a pair of balls, each mounted at the hinge point that
joins two rods of metal, right? So when the rods are spun around
their vertical axis, the centrifugal force given to the balls causes
them to pull out, thus making the hinges bend? Extremely plausible
and actually I really and sincerely hope you're right on this, because
it'll be pricelessly funny if you are.

: : : : Tho I can't give you a definitive source, I can confirm
that "balls out" does come from the days of steam engines and their
governing devices, just as Mr Barney says. Mr Fallen and Mr Bob
too from the look of it can console themselves in knowing that their
alternative belief is far more popular than the correct one. And
to know this sort of detail about steam engines, you'd have to be
kinda geeky about them too.

: : : This is a difficult question. Is any documentation forthcoming
to support either possibility? The dictionaries seem to prefer a
derivation from the anatomical balls, but the mechanical-balls story
seems believable too. Apparently the expression is only known from
WW II times or so. Does anybody have an example of an early (or
even late) straight-faced use of an adverb "balls out" referring
to that gadget with the balls?

: : My references don't have this phrase, but my husband says the
device was called a flyball governor and it used to be common in
discussions of feedback loops. (When it spins faster, it makes the
engine slow down.) That might help in searching.

: It's said that "balls to the wall" has the same origin as "balls
out." I don't have an authoritative source for this.

I'd have thought that "balls to the wall" was far more likely to
be of anatomical derivation than "balls out" - (mind you, I also
thought the latter was anatomical). Sheer speculation, but I had
imagined that "balls to the wall" referred to the effect of accelerative
G-Forces squashing a pilot or race car driver back into his seat.
Interestingly enough, I expect there's little doubt that the similar-seeming
but presumably unrelated phrase "to nail someone's balls to the
wall" is of anatomical provenance.

I see the erudite jury's still out on "balls out". Despite my earlier
belief, the steam engine solution felt like hot favourite as soon
as I saw the post - though you'd think there would be numerous 18th
and certainly 19th century references if this were the case. I wonder
if it'll turn out to be a mini 9 yards?